Baseball card stories from Phil Ouellette

Catcher Phil Ouellette played ten seasons of professional baseball, mostly in the Giants organization. He made the major leagues in 1986 with San Francisco. Now Director of Sales at SledgeBats, a company which manufactures training bats that help players make the transition from aluminum bats to wood, he kindly answered my questions about baseball cards.

"In 1987, my roommate Matt Williams and I posed for each others triple AAA cards. We were both injured and on the DL at Phoenix, Matt with a bad knee and me with a broken hand. I posed as a left-handed pitcher and under his name. My hand had only came out of the cast a few days earlier. I posed left handed so the pressure wraps would not show up on my right hand.

Matt dressed as me and as catcher on one knee. His right knee was still in a sling thingamajig. The card company printed the cards without checking the proofs. The cards are very rare and worth big $$$. I have only seen 6 of them in all the 25 plus years people have sent cards to me to sign. We both had a great laugh when they came out and we were so good looking too. Well... we were just average looking boys with big dreams.... since we could not play injured. We healed some and got better. Matt had a great long career while I kept breaking bones in hands. Life is not all bad luck, I have 3 boys that are baseball studs. You will see them play soon. Shortstop, Catcher, LH Pitcher."

Thanks! I could not find a picture of the card of Williams posing as a catcher - there is no card of Ouellette in 1987 Phoenix Firebirds set. Have any of you readers seen this picture?

Here is a card of him from my collection, from 1990 CMC.